What's most important to you in a game? Graphics/Sound/MP etc.

[jpinard]

As I've now put in about 40 hours of gameplay into Rise of Legends, I started thinking about what influences me to play a game for more than a couple of hours when I have so many choices. When I sat there and analyzed "what" I liked best about RoL, it actually surprised me what I felt was most important (and it's relative across most genres for me).

I'm curious how everyone else rates the following categories for importance. I realize gross generalizations are just that... but when you come down to it, you can generalize for most games. Gameplay is a no-brainer... but seeing how so many games don't prioritize for gameplay - it's still included.

* Graphics
* Sound and Music
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence)
* Multiplayer
* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay)
* Story/Campaign

[jpinard]

I'll start my silly thread with my own preferences:

* Graphics - 7
* Sound and Music - 10
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) - 10
* Multiplayer - 0
* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay) - 9
* Story/Campaign - 8


For myself, sound and music is the one thing that can ultimately tie a game together, or let it fall apart. My fav game, System Shock 2 would not have been the game it was without the excellent sound. When I replay music from Daggerfall it brings back great gaming memories (especially the snow and tavern music).

[Marcus]

* Graphics - 9 ( for newer games yeah but I still play older games with dated graphics )
* Sound and Music - 8
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) -8
* Multiplayer - 4 ( depends on the game and type of game really)
* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay) - 7
* Story/Campaign - 9.5 ( for me the story can make or break the game no matter how good everything else is. If I cant get sucked in to the game then whats the point of playing? )

[Theodore Rex DX]

*Gameplay
*Interesting ideas
*Graphics
*Sound and Music
*Story
*Replayability
*Multiplayer

This is hugely plastic, though, and every single game I can think of that I like makes this list a lie in one way or another - this is just a vague and basically worthless approximation. Added my own category because it's an important one to me and I think to a lot of people.

EDIT: Oh bother, I just ranked them in order of importance. But I'm not giving them a number - that stuff is for chumps!

[Becoming]

* Graphics - 8 (love the purty, though I can easily put up with dated graphics for a good time)
* Sound and Music - 10
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) - 10
* Multiplayer-really depends on the game.
* Replayability - 8
* Story/Campaign - Also really depends on the game for me. If I bought it to play online it would hardly matter (unless it were an rpg of some sort). If it is a strictly singleplayer game then I'd probably have to say about an 8.


As with all generalized ratings I have to mention I'd tolerate some crappy parts if a game were to absolutely knock my socks off in at least 2 of those catagories (in some special cases even 1 catagory).

[JamesL]

* Graphics - 8-9. It really depends on what type of game it is, though. If it's an RTS, I want to be able to tell my elephants from my opponent's turtle riders, or if it's an action game I want the animation to be pretty. If it's a TBS or something, I don't care all that much.

* Sound and Music - 6. Unless this includes voice acting, in which it's probably a 7. Sound and Music is just icing, mostly, but when it works it works great.

* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) - 10. It's a game.

* Multiplayer - 8. Many of my favorite games have been primarly multiplayer, and often games are far more fun with other people.

* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay) - 4. If I'm not going to have a good time the first time, why would I play it again?

* Story/Campaign - 9. This is almost part of gameplay - and it's difficult to get pulled into a game without good story. (I'm more forgiving to sandbox games in this aspect, however, because you can create your "own story", in a sense, while other games force you to play their crappy ones.)

[BobJustBob]

* Graphics - 2
* Sound and Music - 2
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) - 10
* Multiplayer - 0
* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay) - 10
* Story/Campaign - 1

[Alan Au]

Fans of the message board will find things to like about this thread, but it falls short of its true potential. In the growing meta-thread genre, this topic includes all of the basic mechanics, but is missing the spark of inspiration found in such classics as Washington Post buys Slate (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=15721).

* Graphics - (7.1) This thread is really scraping the bottom of the barrel graphics-wise. Without even a single picture of Levar Burton, the graphics (or lack thereof) are reminiscent of threads from more than five years ago.

* Sound and Music - (8.2) If you read this thread aloud, you'll have sound comparable to the best of the meta-threads. The downside is that you have to do the work yourself.

* Gameplay (and AI intelligence) - (9.4) The gameplay is just fun. That's right: it's fun. The Artificial Intelligence intelligence is about average for a thread of this type, which isn't saying much, but it's something. Did I mention it was fun?

* Multiplayer - (9.5) Multiplayer is definitely this thread's strong point. In fact, it's pretty much the only point.

* Replayability - (8.1) As with most multiplayer threads, which is to say all of them, replaybility is what keeps people coming back for more. How appropriate.

* Story/Campaign - (7.3) This thread has all of the usual clichés. If you're a fan of meta-threads, you'll definitely enjoy it. Otherwise, I'd give it a pass.

- Alan

[Soapyfrog]

I wont rate them but for me increasingly the most important factor is becoming how good/flexible the multiplayer is, and I crave above most things co-operative content that is as deep or deeper than the adversarial content.

[RickH]

No specific categories, but the two questions that must be answered "yes" for me are (1) is this engaging and (2) is this satisfying. I can't be bored and I can't be frustrated, or I lose interest. Everything else is negotiable.

[Thomas Wilde]

Story, followed immediately by play control, followed immediately by gameplay. Everything else is usually secondary.

[Jab]

for me,

replayability
gameplay.
controls
multiplayer
story
graphics,
sound

sorry too late for me to comment on right now.

[Coca Cola Zero]

General fun & polish are the most important thing for me, but I did realize a few years ago that sound and more specifically music are way more important than I had previously given them credit for. When I look at a list of some of my favorite games of all time (eg. Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros, Lemmings, the Legacy of Kain games, Halo, etc) they all have fantastic music... coincidence? Not entirely.

[Bill Dungsroman]

I give them all a 7-9.

[Tom Chick]

I think the planet I'd like most to visit if Pluto, because it's named after a dog.

-Tom

[roguefrog]

It's different depending on genre, but universally Gameplay is most important so I'm just not going to mention it. Most important feature besides gameplay based on genre:

RTS:
Control/Interface (by far)

Shooter:
Level Design (I guess)

RPG:
Choices and Consequences (duh)

The Rest:

Music/Sound - Not that important. Only certain games like Thief or System Shock really make awesome use of it.

Multiplayer - This is more important if the game was designed for multiplayer first or only. (Tribes, MMOs, etc...)

Story - Most game stories suckass, so whatever. There are some great ones, but for all genres other than RPG/Adventure, I don't get my hopes up. If the story is good, it's a plus.

Replayability - Maybe second to gameplay.

Graphics - Fuck Graphics. I still play those old text-based adventure games. In fact, I'm playing the newest one right now! It's called "Microsoft Word," and while somewhat minimalist compared to Zork, it's soooo awesome! Right now, I'm engaged in lethal combat with the "File" monster. Every time I attack it, it spawns a veritable army of other monsters, like "New...", "Open...", and "Save As..."! It's like Diablo, but with text! Oh, did I say Diablo? I meant DiaBLOW! 'CAUSE I'M SO HARDCORE!

[Damien Neil]

I find the whole notion of separating a game into little pieces silly. (And, hence, the review sites that carefully split the score down into neat little categories hopelessly absurd.)

A game is formed of many parts, which support each other. What's important is that the whole be a good (dare I say fun?) game.

What's annoying is when a game that's strong in some areas is brought down by weakness in others. Most often, this is a case of excellent graphics and poor everything else; it's trite to say it, but there's too much focus on graphics these days. Not just to the detriment of gameplay, but also sound, music, voice acting, and plot.

[SirBruce]

* Graphics - 8
* Sound and Music - 5
* Gameplay (including AI intelligence) - 10
* Multiplayer - 6
* Replayability (or lengthy gameplay) - 7
* Story/Campaign - 9
* Hot Babes - 11

Bruce

[Hans Lauring]

Blu-Ray - 5
Riiidge Raaacer! - 10
Historically accurate giant craps - 7
Real Time Weapon Switching - 9
A controller, that will require me to stand up and move parts of my body that are not my fingers - -3
A name that's not an acronym and has no numbers - 2

[Shadarr]

Gameplay is king. All I ask of the graphics and sound are that they don't annoy me. GTA3 failed in this regard as the radio ads that were clever and amusing the first time were just plain aggravating the hundredth time. But the game still rocked, because gameplay is king.

Co-op can be a plus, especially if it's a game my girlfriend would like. Hardly ever play versus multi, and never play on public servers.

Replayability can also be a plus, but pretty much only for TBS games. I hardly ever replay other types of games, and never anything with a story.

The other big one is continuous fun. Any kind of level grind or repetetive crap will drive me away right quick.

[unbongwah]

Have fun playing it - 11

[Robert Sharp]

multiplayer is almost never important to me.

Graphics matter, but only to a point. If it doesn't make me cry, the graphics are probably OK. I need to be able to distinguish things in the world

Sound-I notice it if it is bad. Otherwise, I don't notice much, even though they make the experience much better I'm sure.

gameplay- I like games that reward you often, as a rule. I like a game that starts simple and adds complexity as you go along, so that you never feel overwhelmed but you do feel that you eventually have all sorts of things to do and tweak. Gameplay is the single most important feature, obviously, but it's pretty hard to say what makes it good or bad. Coherence, consistency, new things to do all the time. It doesn't have to be original for me, just polished.

[roguefrog]

Numerically:

Gameplay - 10
Control - 9
Replayability - 8
Story - 5
Sound/Music - 3
Multiplayer - 2
Graphics - 1

[slantz]

Fun.

(doh, unbongwah beat me to it.)

[Jake Plane]

Numerically:

Control/Gameplay - 10
Story - 9
Replayability - 4
Sound/Music - 5
Multiplayer - 2
Graphics - 7*

I'm happy with any game that has an engaging, solid story; fun, precise gameplay; little replayability; about average music (anything below 5, I'd consider a distraction to the game, such as heavy metal tracks); and scant or no multiplayer options.

Examples: Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, Zelda, Deus Ex, System Shock 2

It seems that Indigo Propechy is cut from that same mold, so I'm going to give that a shot soon.

Lastly, graphics do factor in. But they don't have to be cutting edge for me. They just need to meet a certain bar (namely slightly better than average).

[Kalle]

This thread is rife with grade inflation.

[Wobbo]

Since I only buy about 3-5 games a year, the only thing that really matters to me is replay value - but for me that means it must have multiplayer. Good music is a plus though.

[Rimbo]

None of those things matter in a game as much as the experience; all of those can affect the experience, but none of them individually represent it.

[Charles]

My importance scale is neither linear, nor sequential.

For example, it starts with graphics. Graphics must meet a minimum requirement where what's on screen is a decent representation of what it is. Then next comes sound. Good sound is required. Excellent sound can save an otherwise crappy game (especially the music), whereas bad sound can sink an otherwise good game. So sound's importance can be disproportionate. After that comes gameplay and story. Gameplay is by far the most important. A truly shitty game can never be saved by anything. Yet, the greatest gameplay in the world cannot make me enjoy a game that doesn't meet minimal graphics requirements. ie: Nethack. I mix story in with gameplay because a lot of game types sort of substitute story for gameplay, and that's cool, as long as it's well done.

These three are then followed by difficulty. I don't want games to be a full time job. I don't want to have to repeat anything more than three or four times, and if I have to, I want it to be because I totally fucked up or did something stupid, rather than just "not being good enough". I also don't want to have to fix an overly difficult game by cheating or using a slider which then makes it unnaturally easy. I play a game at the default difficulty, and that's what I judge the game on.

After that comes just about everything else. I don't care about multiplayer unless it's multiplayer only, in which case the netcode has to not suck. I don't give a shit about replayability as I rarely finish games in any case.

So I guess what I'm saying is, depends on the game.

[Qenan]

Ordered 1-6, in order of importance to me:

1 (tie) Gameplay
1 (tie) Story
1 (tie) Replayability

All of these are important. Which is the most important depends on what the developer does with them.

4 Graphics
5 Sound and Music (Music would be lower if it were separate)
6 Multiplayer

[russellmz00]

since we can make our ouw categories, let me add atmosphere. The best sound and graphics in the world are not guranteed to come together to make an interesting world.

[Bill Dungsroman]

since we can make our ouw categories, let me add atmosphere. The best sound and graphics in the world are not guranteed to come together to make an interesting world.
Seriously, if I played a game without atmosphere...I'd probably suffocate.

[Qenan]

ba-dum-bump.

[DeathMonkey]

I don't really have a rating for games, but my enjoyment of books depends on these factors:

Cover art - 7
Forward - 4
Picture of the author - 8
Typesetting - 10
Binding - 8
Quality of paper - 2
Content - 6

-Scott-

[The Bitter Cynic]

Gameplay is the most important aspect of any game.

Everything else doesn't work unless a game is fun.

Replayability is part of gameplay.

Dominions 2 is a good example. Great gameplay, less that stellar graphics, interface a bit clunkey, but it's a really fun game.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

So I guess what I'm saying is, depends on the game.

Yeah, this is ultimately a pointless question for me, too. I just downloaded the new TOAW and I have completely different design expectations of it than I have for Rise of Legends or Painkiller.

"Gameplay" is just some nebulous term that I have never liked because the best games make the graphics part of the game play; visual cues here and there that serve as both interface and game mechanics. "Gameplay" is just a catch all for all the stuff that isn't graphics or sound or interface.

I will say that sound is a low priority for me because I usually listen to other music when I play.

It's like asking what's most important in a song: refrain, guitar solo, rhyming or use of the C chord.

Troy

[Qenan]

There's a great section in the book Blink (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316172324/sr=8-1/qid=1149646902/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1364023-1973613?%5Fencoding=UTF8) where the author discusses speed dating. Suffice it to say that what people think they want doesn't match what they actually do. I suspect that this is true of games as well.

[Hans Lauring]

Replayability is part of gameplay.


I never replay games. Does that mean that none of the games I play have any gameplay?

[Tyjenks]

The only quality a game has to have for me is that when I am playing the rest of the world drops away into the abyss. People talk to me and I grunt and nod. The time of the day, weather outside, and state of my bowels are all things to which I become oblvious. A game has to pull a whole lotta shit off well to do that for me. It is too difficult to separate, on the rare occasion a game succeeds, the aspects that are working in conjunction with one another to make the magic formula.

Or I could just answer gameplay.

Or this post is BS and I will edit it to just say "7,000th post, bitches!"

[Thrag]

Graphics and sound need to be up to decent standards, but gameplay mechanics (and the related issue of AI) are what really matter.

I still play MOO (and to a lesser extent MOO2) on a regular basis. The graphics are old but completely adequate, they do what they need to do clearly and nicely (other old game that had to render more than just a field of starts don't hold up as well, like the original RRT, which I played last only a few years ago). The game mechanics are what it is all about, and even though in some ways the mechanics and AI are flawed, they are good enough so that I always know I'll enjoy myself in a game. If the game mechanics are conducive to fun, it's likely going to be a good game.

[metta]

Gameplay².

I'm still playing the Thief and Myth series'. It's all gameplay, all the time for me.